Why Art Now? ART HELPS!

Founder’s Statement

April 5, 2020

As I write to you all today having been living and working from home for the last three weeks, like most people everywhere,  I have had plenty of time to reflect on both what is my role now in the midst of this crisis, what I can contribute to society and what all this will look like going forward.  It all boils down to the fundamental question of why art now? How do we define and redefine the role of art in this world, in people’s lives, for community, for the future?

There certainly is plenty of very depressing and heart-wrenching developments happening all around us with museums, galleries and auction houses laying off their employees, shows being cancelled, very likely some museums and galleries shuttering for good in the coming months and artists struggling to survive. No one can predict what our society will be like in six months, nor of course what the art world will be, but we know for certain that nothing will be the same.  So, we must look deep within to ask ourselves and understand the fundamental question of why art? Why art now? In times of crises, humans all go back to the basics, to the heart of the matter. For me, art is the answer. Art can help and art can help to heal. Perhaps, we can finally stop chasing something unseen, some unfathomable values, the next hot artist, running from fair to fair, from state to state, country to country, only concerned about the surface of things. This health pandemic is forcing all of us to stay in one place, to slow down, to consider, to think outside of the box. So why art now? Because art is the answer in so many ways. It’s not the actual medicine that will cure the virus, but it is a medicine for the soul, for the mood, for the energy, to help us through physical difficulties. 

Whether you are going to listen to some newly minted podcasts, watch art films and artist interviews, or someone on IG live present from their home or register to take a virtual tour with Artmuse, you are participating in something that will engage and entertain and take your mind off the worries and stress even for a short while. Perhaps you will decide to support an artist and buy their work, or inquire with a gallery about some finally available pieces or buy a work that will also help support a worthy cause. I can assure you that you will be acquiring art to make you happier as well as helping the entire artistic community in need. So please do engage with art, buy art, support artists and the art community at large. I promise that you will feel better, more empathetic, energetic, engaged and ultimately happier that you were. This is all part of the healing process.

Why art now? Because art does help! 

Below you will find various ways we suggest for all of you to stay engaged, entertained and artfully active during this health pandemic.

Bring Art Tours Home with Artmuse

While galleries and museums may have closed their doors for the time being, our art tour program is still in full swing. Join Artmuse founder Natasha Schlesinger on Zoom on the next art tour, next Tuesday, April 7 at 12:00 pm. This week, we will travel coast to coast and visit six contemporary art exhibitions and artist studios, from Los Angeles to New York. Natasha will guide the experience and artists will speak about their work and process. There are a limited number of spots available.

To register for this webinar, click here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9EDR4E5HSqW2AlJ7p6fPhA.

Engage in Artful Projects

Beat boredom with artful activities during this time of quarantine. Some of Artmuse’s favorite artists have created accessible art projects to help these weeks go by. Jessica Lichtenstein has turned her work into puzzles, with the proceeds going to the United Nations Foundation for Covid. Louise Lawler has made ‘Tracings for You,’ twelve drawings available through MoMA (from WHY PICTURES NOW), for children and adults to download, print, and then color. Hauser & Wirth presents ARTfromHome, a series of specially created line drawings by Anj Smith, Rashid Johnson and Zhang Enli for children and adults to print and color from home.

Explore the World’s Museums with Google Arts & Culture

By staying at home, you can visit Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, followed by New York’s Museum of Modern Art in a single hour: Google Arts & Culture brings the world’s museums to your screens. First launched in 2011, Google Arts & Culture has collaborated with over 1,200 museums, galleries, and institutions in 70 countries to break down borders and bring the experience of art to the home. “Visit” museums located across the globe, explore exhibitions that are otherwise closed to the public, and get close and zoom in on your favorite works of art. Although the world’s museums are closed, their collections and exhibitions are alive and completely accessible through this amazing technology.

Collect Art and Visit Galleries’ Viewing RoomS

With most galleries having closed their doors, online viewing rooms are the way to go for collecting during this time of quarantine. And, in addition to digitizing their exhibitions that were cut short due to the pandemic, many galleries have curated shows that are entirely digital. For example, Pace’s online viewing rooms includes A Swiftly Tilting Planet, a group exhibition that explores the Earth and its stillness, with works by Saul Steinberg, James Turrell, Julian Schnabel, and a group show with works by Lynda Benglis, Harry Callahan, William Eggleston, Eric Fischl, Peter Hujar, Alex Katz, Sol LeWitt, Maya Lin, Brice Marden, Elizabeth Murray, Lucas Samaras, Arlene Shechet, Kiki Smith, and Richard Tuttle. Many galleries, such as Perrotin and Winston Wachter have offered virtual reality tours of their exhibitions. In addition to the many viewing rooms built out of galleries’ websites, Art Basel and Frieze will offer online viewing rooms to replace the respective Hong Kong and New York iterations of the fairs that were canceled due to the pandemic.

Support Young Galleries with Platform: New York

On view from April 3 to May 1, Platform: New York is a digital viewing space, presented by David Zwirner, that brings together a select group of young galleries and highlights a single artist on each of their rosters. The twelve participating galleries are Canal, Bridget Donahue, Bureau, Company, David Lewis, Elijah Wheat Showroom, Essex Street, James Fuentes, JTT, Magenta Plains, Queer Thoughts, and Ramiken—all of which are located in lower Manhattan or Brooklyn (a London iteration will soon follow). “With physical galleries temporarily closed due to the global health crisis, the art community has increasingly turned to digital spaces to share the work of artists, and to engage audiences all over the world,” stated David Zwirner Gallery. Highlights from Platform: New York include James Fuentes presentation of thickly-laid paintings by Keegan Monaghan that explore barriers and entry-points and Elijah Wheat Showroom’s presentation of fluid mosaic works by Zsófia Keresztes.

Sign Kids up for Virtual Art Class

Enrich your children’s home schooling with virtual art lessons, presented by the Guggenheim. On select Mondays and Thursdays, the Guggenheim offers Zoom children’s art classes for third through eighth grades. For forty-five minutes, children have the opportunity to learn about and create art in lessons that use the Guggenheim’s permanent collection and exhibitions as a jumping off point. Each lesson begins with a guided dialogue around a selection of artworks that then guides art making, centered around a specific theme. Classes are $15 for members, $20 for non-members, and scholarships are available upon request.

Fill Your Feed with Art

Social media is one of the best tools we have to tap into and nourish our communities during this time of social distancing. On Instagram, artists, galleries, museums, and art lovers have found ways to stay engaged and keep the spirit of the art world alive. Artist Thomas Witte is making and then giving away one small artwork per day through his Instagram (@__witte__): “I look forward to making these every night. Before heading up to the studio, I have no idea what the piece will be for that day. It’s fun to see a finished piece every day, as I’m used to things taking weeks to finish,” he wrote in an Instagram post. Instagram Live is often used as a way to engage with artists and participate in discussions in real time; artists Mike Perry (@mikeperrystudio) and Chloe Wise (@chloewise_), meme-powerhouse @jerrygagosian, and galleries and institutions such as Pace use the tool to break down the physical barriers that quarantine has made necessary. IGTV is a favorite of many galleries and museums to spotlight artists and curators. And various Instagram handles, such as @tussenkunstenquarantaine and @covidclassics, have cropped up where art fanatics recreate favorite masterpieces.

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We’re pleased to present these beaded face coverings by artist Stephanie Hirsch, a project to protect and inspire as a collaboration between ArtMuse and artist Stephanie Hirsch. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the manufacture of medical masks. More information to come on our Instagram next week. Please inquire for purchase, ns@artmuseny.com.

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E-mail ArtMuse’s founder Natasha Schlesinger, ns@artmuseny.com, to learn more about art tours and download the ArtMuse Selects App for our curation of pop-ups, artist studios, galleries, and museum shows.

Newsletter written by Samatha Kohl, Associate Editor.

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